Churches statewide offer prayer services, plan for vigils after the pontiff's death

'The people are saddened to see him so weakened'

SAN ANTONIO - From the Panhandle to the South Texas Polish settlement of Panna Maria, Roman Catholics were immersed in prayer Friday for Pope John Paul II.

Throughout the state, worshippers monitored the up-and-down health reports on the gravely ill pontiff and many visited churches and chapels to pray privately, recite the rosary or attend Masses in the pope's honor.

"We simply want to pray for the health of the Holy Father, that God will give him strength in this difficult time and that we may accept the will of God," Gomez said.

In Brownsville, Bishop Raymundo J. Pena led a similar ritual Friday night after conducting a live prayer service that morning on the diocese's radio and television outlets. A Friday night Mass also was planned in San Juan at the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan.

"The people generally are saddened to see him so weakened and so frail at this moment of his life, when he was so energetic and strong throughout his life," Pena said.

Because of the pope's extensive travels and his outreach to Latino Catholics, the faithful in the Rio Grande Valley are among his most ardent followers, Pena said.

"He has been able to reach the ends of the Earth. Catholics throughout the world and certainly in the Valley feel closer to him than they have to any pope before him," Pena said.

And in downtown Austin, parishioners gathered outside of St. Mary's Cathedral to share their thoughts and memories of the pope.

"I think he's going to be remembered for many things, including the way he reached out to other religions," said the Rev. Bud Roland, rector of the cathedral. "It's part of his legacy."

Roland said he became a Catholic after seeing the pope for the first time in San Antonio in 1987. He also said that, although it's been 26 years since the church has had a change at the top, many people remember what happens after a pope dies.

"Much of what's going to proceed will be familiar," he said. "The church has been around for more than 2,000 years. We'll move forward."

St. Mary's was open for extended hours Thursday and Friday nights and had higher attendance than usual, Roland said.

"What do you say about a great man and a wonderful church?" he said. "It's a very moving time."

Bridging generations

Joan Pearsall
, 82, and
Theresa Devore
, 13, stood together on the steps of the cathedral Friday, discussing the pope. They both said that although they are years apart in age, the church brought them together.

"It's a historic moment," Pearsall said. "It takes your breath away, no matter how much you expect it. It affects the whole world, Catholic and non-Catholic."

Devore and her friends were having lunch when the bells rang signifying the pope's death Friday, but the reports of his death were false. Some of her friends started crying.

Polish connection

In the tiny South Texas town of Panna Maria — the oldest Polish settlement in the United States — Catholics reminisced about their strong personal bonds with the Polish-born pontiff.

Loretta Niestroy of Hobson, secretary of Immaculate Conception Church and part of a South Texas delegation that met with the pope in San Antonio in 1987, said a few people came by the church during the day Friday to light candles, and she expected an evening Mass to be well attended.

"We pray for him at every Mass," Niestroy said. "He's very dear in my heart, and I saw him when I was in Poland in 1981."

The Panna Maria parish relies on visiting priests while their pastor, the Rev. Wojciech Reisch, is visiting Poland, so it hasn't been determined what services would be held when the pope passes away, Niestroy said.